Multinational and Regional Organizations in 2009

The global financial crisis that began in 2008 set the agendas for many multinational and regional organizations in 2009. The focus of many such groups was on stimulating recovery, providing greater regulation of financial institutions, and increasing cooperation.

One striking development was the eclipse of the Group of Seven/Eight by the Group of 20 (G-20). In April and September, G-20 leaders met to discuss the economic crisis and the reform of financial regulatory systems and to jump-start the Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations. The summits largely produced agreements to continue talking about the issues. The September summit, however, approved the “Pittsburgh Pact,” which signified the G-20’s new role as the primary forum for global economic cooperation. The leaders adopted broad outlines for stronger capital standards for banks and greater voting power in the IMF and World Bank for China and other fast-growing developing countries.

In June the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) held their own, inaugural summit. Accounting for about 15% of the world economy and 40% of global currency reserves, they were drawn together by their dissatisfaction with the U.S.’s role in the global financial system, especially the dollar’s status as the world reserve currency. The BRIC countries were a disparate group, however, and their summit produced more rhetoric than substance.

At the year’s two summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the financial crisis took precedence over the usual regional security issues. Summit communiqués stressed the priority of speeding the implementation of plans to increase international cooperation within the region—particularly regarding infrastructure and communication to counter threats to stability.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2009. Various meetings were held throughout the year in Singapore on the theme of “Sustaining Growth, Connecting the Region.” The November summit was short on substance and long on rhetoric about recovering from the financial crisis, fostering sustainable economic growth, strengthening regional integration and global regulatory policies, resisting protectionism, and concluding the Doha negotiations.

The October summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was attended by leaders from China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, and New Zealand. Their agenda included discussing the expansion of regional trade, finding new paths to growth that were independent of U.S. and European markets, and addressing the poor transportation infrastructure in parts of the region. The organization’s leaders asserted that they were on track to implement the ASEAN Free Trade Area in January 2010, which would initially eliminate tariffs on more than 87% of imports within six of the member countries. In late October ASEAN also inaugurated its Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to help promote social development and justice. The commission, however, faced charges that it would be a “toothless” body, given ASEAN members’ strong adherence to the norm of noninterference.

Along with calling for increased economic cooperation and reforms of global financial architecture, organizations in Latin America and Africa also dealt with challenges to democracy. The Organization of American States (OAS), the South American Common Market (Mercosur), and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) were all involved in a crisis in Honduras, where the elected president was ousted in a coup in June. These groups called for his reinstatement, and the OAS also suspended Honduras and led efforts to mediate a solution—efforts that produced agreement among the parties but little movement toward implementation. In a major step, the OAS voted to lift Cuba’s long suspension from the organization, provided that Cuba met certain conditions.

The African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were involved in political crises in Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Niger, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau. Both the AU and the SADC suspended Madagascar, and the AU led mediation efforts concerning that country’s transitional government and elections. Following an extraordinary summit in October, ECOWAS suspended Niger and appointed mediators to address the situations in both Niger and Guinea.

The AU continued to bear a significant burden for peacekeeping in the Darfur region of The Sudan and in Somalia. Along with the Arab League, it had been vocal in rejecting the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Sudanese Pres. Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges. Bashir was welcomed at both the AU and Arab League summits, but both organizations supported the creation of a hybrid tribunal of Sudanese and foreign judges appointed by the AU in order to try Bashir.

In February the Arab League sent a delegation to the Gaza Strip to investigate charges of Israeli war crimes during military operations there in late 2008 and early 2009. In September, following publication of a UN fact-finding commission’s report, the league’s secretary-general submitted a request for an International Criminal Court investigation of war crimes committed in Gaza. Although the league faced problems with unity in 2009, members were united in calling for a freeze on the expansion of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories as a prerequisite for both further peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and formal recognition of Israel.

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